One of Us Review

Okay so this blog review is particularly special because it is a part of my first blog tour! *squeals* I was able to get involved with this tour through Running Press and received an ARC of One of Us by Jeannie Waudby. Below is the review and a list of links to the other blogs on this tour. Don’t forget to check out their reviews!

Right from the beginning, Waudby entices readers with an action packed scene that promises more to come – and she doesn’t disappoint. Meet K, that’s right just the letter, and her world of citizens vs. Brotherhood. As a fifteen orphan, she is easily manipulative and expendable. Her parents and grandmother have been dead for years, leaving her in the hands of a system that doesn’t seem to care what happens to her.

When a bomb goes off at the train station, a passion to help is ignited in K and then Oskar enter the scene. He saved her life, her saw to the girl beneath her façade, and she owed him. So when given the choice to become a spy, to bring down the enemy, she did what any fifteen year old inspired girl would do – she said yes. From there life gets even more complicated for our protagonist as she becomes Verity Nekton. She is thrown into a world she has been taught to fear. She wears red checkered print, becomes an “other” of society, and enters a game where the rules aren’t very clear.

When she starts to care about the new friends, Celestina, Greg, Serafina, and Emanuel, she meets in the Brotherhood and when the things she sees and hears don’t mash up to the information that Oskar are feeding her, K isn’t sure what to do. Stuck in between two worlds, with two different identities, K has to make a choice. Does she stay with the Brotherhood and continue to fall in love or does she complete her assignment and bring the carefully constructed order of her two worlds falling down?

Immediately I felt sympathy for K. She is faced with a choice that would have had me crumbling into a sobbing pile of indecision. The threat she is up against has a name and a face. She knows she is supposed to be afraid and hate them. Yet her gut tells her something isn’t right because these people are just as scared, just as worried. Waudby does a beautiful job creating complex characters that aren’t just one dimensional. K had me annoyed one minute at how easily she was manipulated and wanting to hug her the next when she just didn’t know what to do. Verity, meaning truth, was an ironic name choice and yet didn’t take away from K’s character at all. The only real problem I had with this book was that it ended… and I wanted to know more. Oh and I can’t forget about Greg. He is just… so cute. I don’t want to spoil anymore. Just read the book!

In a nutshell, no one is exactly who they say they are. Everyone has secrets. This world of morals and coming of age is mixed with politics and social expectations. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who knows what it feels like to make a life changing choice and or… anyone else! Growing up isn’t easy. There will be mistakes – but like K, we just have to have a little courage to keep going and do the right thing.

See What Others Are Saying –

“This is a taut, suspenseful thriller that has obvious parallels with current political events, but what really makes this stand out is the characterization of K/Verity Nekton. The teen is strong and resourceful, but she is also morally conflicted and vulnerable to manipulation. The depictions of her growing affection for the Brotherhood community and her struggles to do the right thing are absolutely believable. VERDICT Recommend this one to teen readers who have tired of dystopias and are looking for something new and different.”

—School Library Journal, starred review

“It’s an irresistible page-turner that’s full of complex characters rather than stereotypes, tackling a sensitive subject with storytelling that is as engrossing as it instructional about prejudice and the gray areas between right and wrong. A timely and riveting debut thriller about tolerance and the complexities of truth.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Waudby draws on universal themes that can speak to almost any “us vs. them” conflict, be it religious, ethnic, or cultural.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Waudby creates a fog of disquietude where both the reader and K become lost, and a final revelation will cause readers to think deeply about how easy it is to manipulate those disconnected from society and in need of a sense of belonging. In the end, whether K is Brotherhood or Citizen matters less than the understanding that social differences rarely occupy such tidy categories in real life. Impactful and thought provoking.”